Barlo's Pizza

Date: 7-26-07

Address: 1345 W. Southport Rd., Indianapolis, IN

Web Address: N/A

Where: In Restaurant

Type: Hand Tossed

Barlo's claim to fame is the Big 29, a 29 inch pizza. They also house a challenge where, if you can eat the entire Big 29 in under two hours with only 1 bathroom break, you get some sort of cash prize.

They offer hand tossed pizza only

DAVE SAYS:
Neither of us had ever heard of Barlo's before, but our intended stop, Aviano's, was closed. We were going to try someplace called Gallagher's, but it was take out only. We looked at a phone book and saw Barlo's was nearby. So, with absolutely no information other than their phone book ad, we decided on Barlo's. Consider that a plug for the Yellow Pages.

I was somewhat worried at first because they had misspelled "pizzeria" on the exterior sign as "pizzaria." I assume the sign originally said "pizza" and they added "ria" later. My fears subsided once we got inside. It's set up like a typical sandwich shop with a big board behind the counter. The pictures on the menu looked good. They were actually tossing the dough right there instead of using frozen "hand tossed" crusts.

They make hand tossed exclusively which is fine by me. I would describe the pizza as closer to New York style than typical chain hand tossed pizza. The inner crust is fairly thin and folding is required for eating by hand.

The outer crust is pretty good. It's light and puffy. If you don't want their breadsticks, which I recommend, you essentially have some quality ones in the crust.

The highlight of the pizza is the sauce to cheese ratio. Some people may say that Barlo's skimped on the cheese. On a thinner crust such as this, huge amounts of cheese are distracting and unwanted. Sauce is an underrated ingrediant in pizza in my opinion and Barlo's has flavorful, spicy without heat, sauce.

Overall, the pizza is good. It's nothing spectacular. I wouldn't drive too far to get it again, but check it out if you're in the neighborhood. (Bluff and Southport).

My final score is 8 out of 10.

MATT SAYS:

WB Pizza

Address: 6165 Allisonville Rd.
Web Address: http://www.wbpizza.com/
Date: 7-25-07
Where: In Restaurant/Home
Pizza type: Upside-Down/Chicago Style

WB Pizza is across the street from Indianapolis pizza icon, Some Guys Pizza. Neither of us had heard of it, but we thought it was strange to open right across the street from a much more "famous" pizzeria.

The only reason we stopped was because Some Guys Pizza was so disappointing. Also, it would make a humorous story if a lesser known restaurant upstages an icon of sorts. We theorized that the WB stood for Way Better, but it stands for Will Barnes, proprietor of WB Pizza.
DAVE SAYS:
I'll admit the place isn't the best to look at. It looks like a strip mall restaurant. Don't let that stop you. This place is fantastic and more than made up for the mediocre pizza from Some Guys 10 minutes earlier.

I have never had service this nice in any restaurant in my life. We were the only dine in customers at the time and our waiter/cook was the owner. We didn't deserve such great service though. We talked about pizza the whole time. He's from the Chicago area and makes a real Chicago style pizza.

The pizza was really good. I mean really good. There wasn't a single ingredient lacking. The two best things were the crust and the sauce. Both are obviously made in house from fresh ingredients. You can taste the freshness of the ingredients.

So many deep dish pizzas have crust that I consider too chewy. From the edge to the center, the crust was perfectly crisp. It wasn't overcooked and crunchy. This is what a deep dish pizza crust should be like.

Will Barnes told us how he made the sauce, but I don't remember. It's stewed, or something, with onions, but they aren't overpowering. The onions add a crisp texture to the sauce that compliments the crust.

Maybe it was the fact that we just ate crappy pizza 10 minutes earlier. Maybe it was really that good. Maybe I didn't expect much. All I know is that I can't say enough good things about the place. I bought a t-shirt. That's how good WB Pizza is.

My final score is a 9 out of 10.

MATT SAYS:

Some Guys Pizza

Address: 6235 Allisonville Rd
Web Address: http://www.someguyspizza.com/
Date: 7-25-07
Where: In Restaurant
Type of pizza: Woodoven

Some Guys Pizza is an icon in Indianapolis. They regularly receive favorable reviews. In a Nuvo reader's poll, they were ranked second best pizza in Indianapolis. I guess their pizza selling point is their woodoven pizza.

DAVE SAYS:
Straight away this place loses huge points for atmosphere. Though I've never seen Sex In The City, this is what I imagine the bars looking like. Strike One. The cashier looks like a guy that's too old for a nightclub, but goes anyway. Strike Two. They sell shirts, but no employee has any discernable uniform. Strike Three. I'm here for the pizza though; not the atmosphere. It still has a chance to redeem itself. So what about the pizza?

Oh, Fortuna! Such is the downward spin you have placed on me that you shall undoubtedly ruin me! An assault on my senses such as this should certainly close my valve permanantly!

In all seriousness, this pizza is nothing spectacular. Since wood oven pizzas are only available in 10-inch, it's too small. It doesn't look good. The sauce is okay. The cheese is okay. The fresh basil leaves are flavorless and distract from the visual presentation. The inner crust is not cooked enough (a fault with wood oven pizzas in general). The outer crust is good, but nothing great. The only thing this pizza has going for it is the pepperoni which is thick, spicy and flavorful.

Had I never heard of this place, I would have thought it was a barely mediocre pizza. Since I was expecting a really good pizza from all of the critical acclaims and reviews pasted around the entrance, I was let down. Never has a pizza let me down like the pizza from Some Guys. The more I think about it, the more I get angry that this place gets lauded with praise that it does not deserve. This isn't necessarily bad pizza, it just isn't special.

It's frustrating because I can't imagine someone honestly recommending this pizza. They have plenty of exotic toppings, which might be the bomb diggity to use the parlance of our times, but they can't manage a decent pepperoni. How Some Guys Pizza became an icon of Indianapolis pizza is beyond me.

Also, the very first piece I get has not most, but all, of the toppings slide off before I can pick it up. AARRGGHH! Shall this downward spin never end?

My final score is 5 out of 10.

MATT SAYS:

Oh man, was I excited about this place! I had not heard anything firsthand about this place but had encountered several overwhelmingly positive reviews online and in local free newspapers (NUVO). I knew that this place would be worth the drive. We arrived and went inside prepared for some, how-you-say PETE-SAH! Ok, we didn'tactually say that. The place had a kind of douchebaggy feel right from the get go. It was nothing that I couldn't handle, but I knew that Dave would hate it instantly. I did notice a large amount of framed awards all over the walls which were covered with modern art pizza-themed paintings. We were seated about 5 feet from local hero Rupert Boneham of Survivor who was doing some sort of televised interview. I heard him raving about the pizza and my expectations grew. Dave and I opted for the house specialty, the 10-inch wood fired pie (pepperoni).

The pizza came and somehow seemed even smaller than 10 inches. The pizza looked generally unappealling at first glance. But there is more to pizza than meets the eye. After eating a whole slice I knew that this pizza was largely overrated. The crust was pretty boring. Even though the bottom of the crust had that blackened, wood-fired look, the taste didn't reflect it. The pizza had multiple kinds of cheeses. Mozzarella, obviously, and ricotta was spooned on top. The ricotta really killed this pizza for me. I felt like I was eating bites of lasagna without swallowing and then taking bites of pizza. I just didn't work. The pizza was also covered with basil leaves which made the pizza look pretentious and ugly. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate "gourmet pizza." However the pizza did have one excellent quality. The pepperoni was fantastic. Alsthough the slices were small they were very thick. They were hand-cut slices and had a ton of flavor and spice (which I love).

I honestly feel that this places extreme amount of hype hurt it's appeal. Had I not gone in expecting greateness I may have only thought it kind of sucked. But taking the hype into consideration I will say that this place is a waste of time and money.

My final score is 3 out of 10.